Saturday, February 21, 2009

Grassroots Network: ICAN and TIME Magazine "The Trouble with Repeat Cesareans"

Dear Friends,

Finally, the problems with repeat cesareans and lack of access to VBACs is showing up in the national press! TIME magazine just ran a fantastic article: The Trouble With Repeat Cesareans, by Pamela Paul. Here is the link (however, you might get a page where you have to search by the title as this article has been archived).

The TIME article includes a terrific quote: "How can a hospital say it can handle an emergency C-section due to fetal distress yet not be able to do a VBAC?" asks Dr. Mark Landon, a maternal-fetal-medicine specialist at the Ohio State University Medical Center and lead investigator of the NIH's largest prospective VBAC study.

In addition, Paul wrote in the Huffington Post regarding her own background and how she came to write this article.

This blog includes a link to the TIME article, and many people are commenting.

At the same time, and mentioned in the TIME article, ICAN has announced the results of their latest survey: "The survey shows a near triple increase (174%) from November 2004, when ICAN conducted the first count of hospitals forbidding women from having a VBAC. In 2004, banning hospitals numbered 300. The latest survey, conducted in January 2009, counted 821 hospitals formally banning VBAC and 612 with 'de facto' ban." Read more at http://www.ican-online.org/ "Access to VBAC Shrinking".

Hope these resources will be useful as we continue work to improve maternity care in every setting!